Ottawa is supporting industry development under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The federal government is investing millions of dollars into Canada’s dairy sector to help it become more sustainable.
The government is providing Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) with $7.5 million dollars to help support sustainable development in the industry.
The funding is coming through the AgiScience Program – Clusters Component, under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
The support is part of an overall public-private partnership worth $13 million. Partners include the federal government, DFC, Novalait and Lactanet.
“Today’s announcement will help Dairy Farmers of Canada build on their momentum, by ensuring they have access to the tools and research they need to continue to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the industry,” Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in a July 11 statement.
DFC will use the funding to support research focusing on greenhouse gas reduction, carbon sequestration, genetic improvement and other areas.
In total, the organization will invest in 13 research projects in line with its National Dairy Research Strategy.
DFC has committed the dairy farm sector to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.
And these investments in research projects will help the sector reach its goal.
The federal support “is essential to enable strong, robust and evidenced-based research material that ultimately helps dairy farmers increase the efficiency of their farms,” Pierre Lampron, president of DFC, said in a July 11 press release. “The investment is another important step towards Dairy Net Zero and Canadian dairy farmers’ continued work on furthering a sustainable dairy sector.”